The session devoted toward older players will focus on footwork, conditioning, stroke mechanics, strategy, and friendly competition. Anyone considering playing high school tennis or USTA tournaments will benefit greatly from this camp. The camp not only offers instruction, but teaches players how to practice their tennis more effectively in the future.

Our tennis camp will be directed by:

Dr. Britton Shepardson – Britton has worked as a tennis professional for 11 years. He has taught tennis in California, Hawai‘i, and Tennessee to players of all skill levels and ages. He has also played tennis for 24 years, on junior teams, high school teams, and on Top 10 NCAA Division III teams.
Dates: July 20th – July 24th

Monday – Friday

Time: 8am – 10am (5 yrs – 12 yrs)

11am – 1pm (13 yrs – 18 yrs)

Location: Creek Wood High School

Price: $50 per player

Register early. Space limited to 18 players per age group.
For registration or more information, please contact Britton:

(808) 389-2846 or email bleif@yahoo.com

She and her husband, Dan, and two boys, Jake and Pete, moved from Memphis this past October. She wasn’t sure about relocating to a smaller town, but has found that Dickson offers everything that Memphis had and so much more, without all the hassles! “The people are so nice and helpful here. It is an easy place to make friends and we felt comfortable right away.” She was also impressed with the number of independently owned businesses, the uniqueness of the downtown area, the progressiveness of the medical community, especially that Dickson has a branch of the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center and the Renaissance Center and all that it has to offer.

Originally from Texas, J.J. earned her Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas at Austin. She has always been interested in physical fitness and began attending yoga classes over 10 years ago. It was through her experience as a nurse that she saw first-hand the mind-body connection and her patient’s ability to help control pain, decrease fear and anxiety and recover more quickly through the use of the breath and simple, gentle exercises. In other words, by practicing yoga.

“The more I practiced yoga and saw the benefits of it in my own body and in my own life, the more I wanted to share this ‘gift’ with others. The breathing techniques and gentle poses of restorative yoga naturally transferred into my nursing and to how I cared for my patients.”

Research has shown that yoga is helpful for a variety of illnesses and ailments, from alleviating pain associated with Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, lowering blood pressure in hypertensive patients, and decreasing pain, increasing strength and range-of-motion and stamina in cancer patients, and so much more. Dr. Julie Perrigin of Dickson Medical Associates thinks so, too. “I think that yoga is an excellent exercise technique for patient’s with arthritis that have difficulty with flexibility and participating in other high or low impact exercise activities. I also feel it is helpful with all age ranges in improving flexibility, joint stability, and balance. It also is very beneficial in today’s fast paced world to provide relaxation and stress relief for mental health, which is just as important as physical health.” Physical Therapist Ian Fraser of Results Physiotherapy states, “yoga compliments the work we do as Physical Therapists, especially for patients with spinal disorders who are completing their rehabilitation.” He also thinks that “yoga is a fun yet challenging way to work on spinal stability and overall body control, which is important for the protection and health of joints.”
J. J. has recently completed her yoga teacher certification through YogaWorks out of New York City. She strongly feels that yoga is beneficial for everyone and that is why she named her studio Yoga for All. “Many people have misconceptions about yoga; yoga is not about tying yourself into the shape of a pretzel, nor is it a religion. Yoga is about focusing the mind through connecting the breath with movement of the body. If you can breathe, you can do yoga.” She states that you are never too old, too stiff or too overweight to do yoga. Classes are focused on safety first with intelligent instruction on proper alignment and form. A variety of classes, including T-Tapp with Vicki Drobnis, will be offered and can be as vigorous or relaxing as you would like. Every class ends with a deep relaxation period. Please visit yogaforalldickson.com for class descriptions, pricing, student information and schedule.

The store is housed in the former Coldwell Banker Dotson realty office, which was at one time a bank.  The original walk-in safe is still intact and is serving as a wine storage room. The owners are working on a wine room and hope to stock import beers and an array of Tennessee products. The store is beautiful and gleaming and the employees behind the elegant fine-wood counter and display case are friendly and eager to please.

Hours are 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs. and 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Fri. & Sat. Call 615.797.3812 for information.

Abednego’s is at 4101 Highway 70E. in White Bluff.  Call 615.797-5501.

Your trainer is Vicki Drobnis, certified by Teresa Tapp to teach her workout to you. Vicki is also a NESTA (National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association) certified personal fitness trainer, and holds a Masters Degree in Education from Cumberland University. Her business, AVD Fitness, offers T-Tapp classes in group, private and semi-private training sessions.

T-Tapp is unique in that it uses your own body mechanics to build long lean muscles and burn fat. There are no weights or special equipment needed with T-Tapp. All that’s needed is a 3×3 foot space to do the workout! It’s all about body alignment and multiple muscle activation. T-Tapp is effective for all levels of exercisers – the inactive as well as the very fit.

Probably the best part of T-Tapp (other than inch loss) is that it promotes internal improvements as well as external ones. By utilizing compound muscle movement in alignment, the body is stimulated to revitalize internal body systems. T-Tappers report improvements such as regulated blood sugar and blood pressure levels, hormonal balancing, improved posture with relief from joint pain, and improved mental clarity after working out with T-Tapp. T-Tappers not only look good; they feel good too!

Classes start July 13 at Yoga for All on Henslee Drive. Details on class times and prices are at www.avdfitness.com or call 615-517-5912 for more details.

Vicki Drobnis

Clues about our real passions and life purposes abound everywhere when we are young. I have discovered this during the second half of life almost daily by tying personal memories to current happenstance. After making friends with local bread baker David Tannen, I remembered my senior year in high school buying a cookbook entitled, “Beard On Bread” by the obvious master James Beard.

I was struck then as I am now by the following lines in his introduction, “Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all food; and good bread with fresh butter (or local honey), the greatest of feasts. However, unless we bake it ourselves, it is hard to come by a loaf of bread these days delicious enough to stir the senses. We are offered spongy, plasticized, tasteless breads, presliced, doctored with nutrients and preservatives and with about as much gastronomic importance as cotton wool. Yet people everywhere seem to go on buying bread no matter how poor its quality, simply because it is unthinkable to live without it. But there is no excuse for putting up with bad bread, particularly when a loaf prepared by hand is so little trouble particularly if you know David.

Happy trails to me and my delightful friend Connie Hardin as we set off last week on a crisp, clear and brilliantly colored fall day — destination Old Natchez Trace Road (off Highway 7, north of Columbia) and David Tannen’s home Twin Forks Farm. Though David sells his menu of artisan loaves at the Nashville Farmer’s Market on Wednesday, Franklin Farmers Market on Saturday, The Produce Place in Nashville and The Loveless Cafe, I wanted the full experience and the secret to his genuinely happy disposition at market.

Sean York will one day recall bread baking with his grandfather David. He began as a baker just this past May, and I was lucky enough to discover him and have been buying this deliciousness on a weekly basis since that time. As connoisseurs of farmers’ markets my husband, Dalton and I have a radar for that certain vendor — those would be the folks with the slowed down, even tempered dispositions who love their product and enjoy the education component of the market as much as the production piece. We spied David, hands in his pockets with a boyish grin on his face and his simply stacked table, loaded with rustic European-style loaves.

“Now this is what I’m talking about,” I say to Dalton as this type of bread is a rare find in our southern markets.
Eating our way through the varieties that David offers has been an adventure paralleling his own journey of discovery in bread baking. A double pair of experiences seemed to have helped peak his interest in this realm of nutritious food provider. Step one: as a youngster, he practiced with a swim team extremely early in the morning and his Mother (brilliant matriarch who she was) encouraged him to cook his own breakfast. Step two: he was a reader and become enthralled with nutrition.

Ms. Cook is committed to the discovery and enjoyment of locally grown and crafted foods. She tells a tale of real food choices that will benefit the health of the family and the community.